Wes Streeting: Whipps Cross Hospital rebuild 'will happen'

The rebuild was proposed as part of the Conservatives’ New Hospitals Programme, but the scheme was paused in late July.

The NHS previously warned the target date of 2030 had become “highly unlikely” and the government is now carrying out a “complete review” of the project.

Though many have worried the hospital will languish, Mr Streeting told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “I am absolutely committed to redeveloping Whipps Cross. It is going to happen.

“It might not happen as fast as I would have liked it to, and I share everyone’s anger and frustration about this.”

Speaking during a visit to King George Hospital on October 18, the Ilford North MP said the timelines drawn up by the previous government were “a work of fiction” and £3.7billion in funding was due to run out in March.

Whipps Cross Hospital (Image: LDRS)

He added: “What I’m currently doing is looking at Whipps and all of the other projects so I can come forward with an honest and realistic timetable, so people can have the clarity and certainty they deserve.”

He did not indicate what the new timetable will look like.

First proposed by the previous government, the new Whipps Cross would include more clinical space, single-patient rooms, and double the number of MRI machines. Some 1,500 homes were also proposed for the surrounding area.

It was one of 40 new or redeveloped health centres promised in 2019. So far, only one new hospital has been completed and work begun on just six others.

Rachel Reeves, the chancellor of the exchequer, is expected to announce revised funding for the project as part of the Autumn Budget, due to be unveiled on October 31.

She previously said a “thorough, realistic and costed plan” would replace the programme.

Despite the confidence from the health secretary, local campaigners are worried the new Whipps Cross could still be unfit for purpose.

Concerns have been raised that the plans did not include enough beds and issues with ambulances queuing outside would not be alleviated.

Norma Dudley, an activist with Action 4 Whipps, said: “We’re faced with the same old chestnut.

“If it’s too small and we lose services like the Margaret Centre, there’s a real risk that it won’t be fit for our community’s future health needs.”

The future of the Margaret Centre, a dedicated end-of-life care unit at Whipps Cross, still hangs in the balance.

Though councillors from Waltham Forest and Redbridge said there was “no case” for it to not continue, Barts Health NHS Trust, who manage the hospital, has been unable to commit to carrying it over to the new hospital.

Representatives previously told councillors the rebuilt Whipps Cross would still offer palliative care, and the hospital was “moving away from solely having a dedicated ward for specialist end-of-life care”.

Mr Streeting added there needed to be a “real debate in this country” about “how to give everyone a good death”.

He told the LDRS: “I don’t think end-of-life and palliative care is in a good enough place in our country.”

He said there was a “lot of work to do” elsewhere, including in hospice and home-based care.

The Labour MP had been visiting King George Hospital, in Goodmayes, to meet with staff from Project Search.

The initiative was launched to help young people with disabilities like autism to enter the NHS in various staff roles.

Speaking with new intakes, who had recently left college, Mr Streeting said the “hardest step was getting on the ladder,” but “once you are on, you are on”.

He added it was “important” that local residents were being employed.